AgChat Agvocacy Scholarship Competition - Lesley Schmidt

We are awarding a scholarship to AgChat Foundation’s Agvocacy 2.0 Farmer Social Media Training (August 23rd through 24th). See all of the Agvocacy scholarship finalists and vote for your favorite.

Lesley Schmidt

Why Would You Like to Receive Agvocacy 2.0 Training?

Being raised on a fifth generation family farm, I know the work is not always simple. As we all have seen, there are folks who don’t understand agriculture. Instead of asking a farmer, they make up a theory of what they understand to be the truth, even if it’s from a book they read, something they saw in a movie, what they learned in the classroom or even off the internet. It makes it hard for some agriculture folks to continue on with their business when these types of incidents are occurring. There is nothing wrong with folks questioning our ways, but telling false facts isn’t the way to go about it. We all want to stop and correct those with the truth, but some of us wonder how we can do this in a friendly yet professional manner without getting frustrated? How can I not just walk away and think someone else will tell them or they’ll figure out soon enough on their own, when the opportunity is right there for me to provide them with the truth?

More and more folks are using social media to communicate and to find information about agriculture. I would love to learn more about how to get the best use out of social media and how to get those important messages about agriculture to the public without going over the top. Every day I see the younger generation tweeting, facebooking, chatting with their friends all over the world about something they just heard or read. This will be the tool we will need to use to connect in the future.

I would love to attend ‘Agvocacy 2.0’ as I believe this experience will provide me with supplementary habits to support agriculture, as I have been learning with American Agri-Women. This will broaden my horizon, connect me with others who support agriculture, and motivate me to become a more presentable agriculture advocate. I know I will learn various ways to handle those false facts, as well as the proper way to handle social media and other situations facing the truth of agriculture revolving around on social media. I hope to learn more about each social media network being used for agriculture and become a member to help promote the truth, as well as join forces with others who are already involved in this process. I would especially like to learn to know when to share the facts, procedures, or processes rather than opinions and personal stories.

This will be a great teaching medium not only for myself but for those I share with in the future, as I know my ladies in Kansas Agri-Women will want tips and tricks too! By the end of this program, I know I will be more confident in using social media. I will be more prepared to share agriculture with folks, and not just the common folks, but with our government officials in Washington D.C. I will be that credible source for my people. I will work hard to get others to share their stories and facts about agriculture. I want to be a voice for agriculture.

Lesley's Connection to Agriculture

I am part of the fifth generation family farm where we raise alfalfa, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat, all while managing a cow/calf operation. To keep up on agriculture policies, issues and happenings I have became involved with Kansas Agri-Women, a state affiliate of American Agri-Women. I currently sit as Second Vice President for Kansas Agri-Women and as a member we aim to share the truth, as our motto has it ‘From Producer to Consumer with Understanding.’